Mill for grinding cocoa



Au'g. 26, 1930. o. THURMANN 1,

MILL FOR GRINDING COCOA F i1edJuly22, 1925 fly- I ,3?) i 9.3 77 K 1? 2bc Q Q) J 4 I N v E N T OR: 0770 T/mrma n gmlfiu u o rfiahm ATTORNEYS-Patented Aug. 26, 1930 has Fries o'r'ro rnunmnnu, or B RLI GERMANY MILLnon eninnme cocoa Application filed July 22, 1925, Serial No. 45,174,and in Germany December 31, 1924.

This invention relates to a mill for grinding cocoa, chocolate and likesubstances in a liquid, paste-like state, which is constituted by acombination of a rough grinding mill with several ballmills for finegrinding and is so arranged that the material ground is discharged fromit in a completely finished state provided with all admixtures such assugar, etc. 5

A construction of the -mill according to this invention is shown inFigure 1 of the drawings in a vertical axial section, in Figure 2 inplan, with the runner parts partly broken E and in Figure 3 which showsa piece of a ring part.

l is a fixedgrinding cone arranged with the point upwards and providedwith grooves, such as shown in Figure 2. A correspondingly shaped hollowcone 2 with similar grooves on the inner surface forms the runner, andis driven from the vertical spindle 3 passing through the fixed grindingcone 1. The fixed grinding cone 1 is concentrically surrounded by twoannular or ring channels 4 and 5 of about semi-circular crosssection insuch a manner that the outer channel 5 is at a lower level than theinner one 4. In each of these annular channels runs a number of balls 6,7. The balls 6 are covered by a movable runner cover 8 having the formof an annular channel and preferably made in one piece withthe cone 2.The cross-section of this cover is also semi-circular, and

' makes with the cross section of the fixed channel 4 a circle, of whichthe balls fill up the cross section. 'The same applies to the balls 7which are covered by a runner cover 9, also of the form of an annularchannel. The runner covers 8 and 9 are not connected together in anyway, so that the runner cover 8 alone loads or presses on the balls 6,and the runner cover 9 alone loads orpresses on the balls 7 The runnercover 8 is provided on its upper face with annular walls 10, 11 whichform a chamber above it, intended to receive loading weights 12,13. Inthe same way, the runner cover 9 is provided with annular Walls 14, 15for receiving the loading weights 16, 17. vThe movement is transmittedto the runner cover 8 through the runner cone 2 to which it is secured,and to the runner cover 9 by the runner cover 8 through a spring 18which is attached at one'end to an arm 19 of the runner cover 8, and atthe other end to a projection 20 of the annular wall 15 of the runnercover 9. Obviously, several such springs may be used.

Owing to this arrangement, the grinding pressure in each'ball ring isregulated as desired, and the resistances to which one ball ring isexposed, do not affect the grinding work of the other ball ring. Furtherthe grinding oi the cocoa may be eii'ected by the first ball ring alone,and only then, in

passing the material into the outer ball ring,

to add the sugar through the upwardly divergent slot between the runnercovers 8 and 9, and to grind it together with the cocoa by means of theouter ball ring, so that the material is discharged from the mill asfinished chocolate. Obviously further ball rings may be arranged-roundthe existing ones, and this outer grinding ring may be driven in anydesired manner without any connection with the drive from the centre. v

To prevent the balls from striking each other and subsequently becomingdistrib-- uted irregularly, and further to ensure an exact discharge ofthe ground material, the

following arrangement is adopted.

Each of the two ring channels 6 and 7 is surrounded by a ring 21provided with semicircular recesses 22 fitting the balls. These ringsare mounted in suitable milled recesses of the annular channel bodies 4and 5 and ro-. tate in them round the spindle 3 when the balls rollduring the grinding in the annular channels 6 and 7. The upper surfaceofthe rings 21 is about on the level of the centres.

of the balls, so that during the rolling, the

cocoa or chocolate adhering to the balls is stripped off and runsfromthe rings outwards, so that it passes either from the annularchannel 4 into the channel 5, or from the annular channel 5 into theouter co]lec-. tor channel 23.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is:

1. A mill for grinding cocoa, chocolate and the like, consisting of anumber of individual grinding devices, concentrically arranged, andhaving fixed grinding surfaces below and movable grinding bodies above,of which grinding devices the center one is a rough grinding mill andthe outer ones are ring-shaped balls with weight lids, the organizationbeing such that each of the movable upper parts is driven by the movableupper part of the next inner ring yet receives no pressure therefrom inthe direction perpendicular to the milling surface, said mill having thecharacteristic that between the lower and the upper part of the grindingball rings there are loosely movable annular plane plates, which platesare provided on their inner side with semi-circular recesses to receivethe balls and guide them and strip oil the ground material from them.

2. ii mill tier grindin cocoa, chocolate and the like, consisting of anumber oil individual grinning devices, concentric-m v arranged, andhaving lined grinding sur aces below and movable grinding bodies above,of which grinding devices the center one is a rough grinding mill andthe outer ones are ring-shaped balls with weight lids, the organizationbeing such that each of the movable upper parts is dr'ven by the movableupper part oi the next inner ring yet receives no pressure therefrom inthe direction per- PQDCliCdlll' to the milling surface, said mill havingthe characteristics that springs are used to convey the movement fromone movable upper grindin body to the next and that between the lo 1'and the upper part of the grinding ball ings there are movable annularplates set about the common spindle, which plates are provided on theirinner side with semi-circular reces es to receive the 7 balls and which.guide the balls and strip off the ground material from them.

3. A mill comprising a plurality of ball grinding devices disposedconcentrically and having the characteristic feature that the grindingcover of each individual one of the grinding devices comprises meansconstructed to receive additional weighting members, each independentlyoi. the other, by additional weights that may be put on them.

i. ii mill comprising a plurality of ball grinding devices disposedconcentrically and having the characteristic feature that the inrmostgrinding device is moved directly by the mill axle whereas the grindingring cover of the other gi'nding devices is connected up in thedirection of movement with the innermost grinding dev'ee, by means ofdrawingsprngs, in an elastic manner.

'if l"f .m es nnony u ieieo l nave signed my name to this specification.

OTTO THURMANN.

